Uplink transmission for multi-panel operation

[0001] The present application is a continuation of and claims priority to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/510,196, filed Oct. 25, 2021, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/502,344, filed Jul. 3, 2019, which claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119 to: U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/694,216 filed Jul. 5, 2018; and U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/713,975 filed Aug. 2, 2018, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.

[0002] Various embodiments of the present application generally relate to the field of wireless communications, and in particular, to uplink transmission for multi-panel operation.

[0003] Among other things, embodiments of the present disclosure relate to multiplexing physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) and physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) with multiple transmit and receive points (multi-TRP) and multi-panel operation. In particular, embodiments include beam/panel indication for PUCCH; multiplexing PUCCH(s) with multi-TRP and multi-panel operation; and Multiplexing PUCCH(s) and PUSCH(s) with multi-TRP and multi-panel operation.

[0018] Embodiments discussed herein may relate to uplink transmission for multi-panel operation. Other embodiments may be described and/or claimed.

[0019] The following detailed description refers to the accompanying drawings. The same reference numbers may be used in different drawings to identify the same or similar elements. In the following description, for purposes of explanation and not limitation, specific details are set forth such as particular structures, architectures, interfaces, techniques, etc., in order to provide a thorough understanding of the various aspects of the claimed invention. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art having the benefit of the present disclosure that the various aspects of the invention claimed may be practiced in other examples that depart from these specific details. In certain instances, descriptions of well-known devices, circuits, and methods are omitted so as not to obscure the description of the present invention with unnecessary detail.

[0020] Various aspects of the illustrative embodiments will be described using terms commonly employed by those skilled in the art to convey the substance of their work to others skilled in the art. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that alternate embodiments may be practiced with only some of the described aspects. For purposes of explanation, specific numbers, materials, and configurations are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the illustrative embodiments. However, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that alternate embodiments may be practiced without the specific details. In other instances, well-known features are omitted or simplified in order not to obscure the illustrative embodiments.

[0021] Further, various operations will be described as multiple discrete operations, in turn, in a manner that is most helpful in understanding the illustrative embodiments; however, the order of description should not be construed as to imply that these operations are necessarily order dependent. In particular, these operations need not be performed in the order of presentation.

[0022] The phrase “in various embodiments,” “in some embodiments,” and the like may refer to the same, or different, embodiments. The terms “comprising,” “having,” and “including” are synonymous, unless the context dictates otherwise. The phrase “A and/or B” means (A), (B), or (A and B). The phrases “A/B” and “A or B” mean (A), (B), or (A and B), similar to the phrase “A and/or B.” For the purposes of the present disclosure, the phrase “at least one of A and B” means (A), (B), or (A and B). The description may use the phrases “in an embodiment,” “in embodiments,” “in some embodiments,” and/or “in various embodiments,” which may each refer to one or more of the same or different embodiments. Furthermore, the terms “comprising,” “including,” “having,” and the like, as used with respect to embodiments of the present disclosure, are synonymous.

[0023] Examples of embodiments may be described as a process depicted as a flowchart, a flow diagram, a data flow diagram, a structure diagram, or a block diagram. Although a flowchart may describe the operations as a sequential process, many of the operations may be performed in parallel, concurrently, or simultaneously. In addition, the order of the operations may be rearranged. A process may be terminated when its operations are completed, but may also have additional steps not included in the figure(s). A process may correspond to a method, a function, a procedure, a subroutine, a subprogram, and the like. When a process corresponds to a function, its termination may correspond to a return of the function to the calling function and/or the main function.

[0024] Examples of embodiments may be described in the general context of computer-executable instructions, such as program code, software modules, and/or functional processes, being executed by one or more of the aforementioned circuitry. The program code, software modules, and/or functional processes may include routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, etc., that perform particular tasks or implement particular data types. The program code, software modules, and/or functional processes discussed herein may be implemented using existing hardware in existing communication networks. For example, program code, software modules, and/or functional processes discussed herein may be implemented using existing hardware at existing network elements or control nodes.

Uplink Transmission for Multi-Panel Operation

[0025] High frequency band communication for fifth-generation new radio (5G NR) systems can provide wide bandwidth to support integrated communication systems. Beam forming is a critical technology for the implementation of high frequency band system due to the fact that the beam forming gain can compensate the severe path loss caused by atmospheric attenuation, improve the SNR, and enlarge the coverage area. By aligning the transmission beam to the target UE, radiated energy is focused for higher energy efficiency, and mutual UE interference is suppressed.

[0026] In the case when a UE is equipped with two or multiple sub-arrays or panels, the UE is capable of transmitting or receiving the control and data channel using two or multiple panels simultaneously to improve the link budget. FIG. 4A illustrates one example of a dual transmission scheme for control and data channel according to some embodiments. In this example, the UE forms two Tx or Rx beams at the same time for the transmission or reception of data and control channel. In this example, two gNBs or transmit and receive points (TRP) receive the uplink data from one UE using dual beam transmission. However, in other scenarios, one gNB may receive the uplink data channel from one UE using two beams.

[0027] In NR, uplink control information (UCI) can be carried by physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) or physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH). In particular, UCI may include scheduling request (SR), hybrid automatic repeat request-acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) feedback, channel state information (CSI) report, e.g., channel quality indicator (CQI), pre-coding matrix indicator (PMI), CSI resource indicator (CRI) and rank indicator (RI) and/or beam related information (e.g., L1-RSRP (layer 1-reference signal received power)).

[0028] When a UE is configured or indicated to transmit PUSCH or PUCCH using multiple panels or beams, and when multiple PUSCHs using different Tx beams or panels overlap with PUCCH with single or multiple beams or panels, certain mechanisms need to be defined for multiplexing PUCCH(s) and PUSCH(s) to allow alignment between the gNB and UE.

[0029] Among other things, embodiments herein relate to multiplexing PUCCH(s) and PUSCH(s) with multi-TRP and multi-panel operation. In particular, embodiments include beam/panel indication for PUCCH; multiplexing PUCCH(s) with multi-TRP and multi-panel operation; and Multiplexing PUCCH(s) and PUSCH(s) with multi-TRP and multi-panel operation.

[0030] In NR, it was agreed that when single-slot physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) overlaps with single-slot PUCCH or single-slot physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) in slot n for a PUCCH group, the UE multiplex all UCIs on either one PUCCH or one PUSCH, using the existing UCI multiplexing rule, if both following conditions are satisfied: (1) if the first symbol of the earliest PUCCH(s)/PUSCH(s) among all the overlapping channels starts no earlier than symbol N₁+d_1,1+d_1,2+1 after the last symbol of PDSCH(s); and (2) if the first symbol of the earliest PUCCH(s)/PUSCH(s) among all the overlapping channels starts no earlier than N₂+d_2,1+1 after the last symbol of PDCCHs scheduling UL transmissions including HARQ-ACK and PUSCH (if applicable) for slot n.

[0031] If at least one pair of overlapping channels does not meet the above timeline requirements, UE consider it is an error case for all UL channels in the group of overlapping channels. In this case, UE behavior is not specified. Note that N₁, N₂, d_1,1, d_1,2, d_2,1 are processing time related parameters, which are defined in TS38.214.

[0032] FIG. 4B illustrates one example of timeline check for multiplexing of PUCCH and PUSCH. In the example of FIG. 4B, the timeline requirement is satisfied, and therefore PUCCH carrying HARQ-ACK feedback is dropped and HARQ-ACK feedback is piggybacked on PUSCH.

Beam/Panel Indication for PUCCH

[0033] A UE with multiple panels may transmit PUCCH from one panel, a subset of the multiple panels, or all panels. One issue that arises is how to indicate the panel that the UE should use to transmit the PUCCH. As used herein, a “UE panel” comprises a group of one or more UE antenna ports, and a “beam” refers to a spatial domain transmission filter.

[0034] In an embodiment, for a PUCCH resource, the UE panel can be indicated by RRC or RRC and MAC Control Element (CE). For a PUCCH resource, a UE may be configured with N (N>=I) PUCCH-spatialRelationInfo by RRC. If N>1, a MAC CE can be used for down-selection.

[0035] In one option, up to M PUCCH-spatialRelationInfo can be selected by MAC control element (CE), where the maximum value of M indicates the maximum number of simultaneously transmitted beams by a UE. The maximum number of simultaneously transmitted beams can refer to number of UE panels, and it could be reported as a UE capability. In each PUCCH-spatialRelationInfo, only one Sounding Reference Signal (SRS), Synchronization Signal Block (SSB), or Channel State Information Reference Signal (CSI-RS) resource can be indicated. The indicated PUCCH-spatialRelationInfo can be one-to-one mapped to each UE panel with increasing order, where one value of PUCCH-spatialRelationInfo indicates no beam indication for the panel. Alternatively, the UE panel index can be configured within a PUCCH-spatialRelationInfo or derived from the configured SRS/SSB/CSI-RS resource.

[0036] In another option, each PUCCH-spatialRelationInfo could include up to M reference signal resources based on SRS and/or SSB and/or CSI-RS. Each reference signal is used to indicate the beam(s) for one or multiple panel(s), where the panel index can be derived from the configured SRS/SSB/CSI-RS resource.

[0037] If SRS resource is configured, the panel index can be derived based on the UE antenna port index configured for the SRS resource, or the panel index can be configured for a SRS resource. If SSB/CSI-RS resource is configured, the panel index can be based on the panel which is used to receive the SSB/CSI-RS resource, or the panel index can be reported to gNB during beam reporting.

[0038] Furthermore, for PUCCH resources in a resource set, UE may expect the same panel index or the same number of panels should be configured. In addition, the power control parameters set for each panel, e.g. PO, alpha, downlink reference signal resource for pathloss measurement, and closed-loop index, can be selected based on each indicated PUCCH-spatialRelationInfo if multiple PUCCH-spatialRelationInfo can be indicated. Alternatively, PUCCH-spatialRelationInfo can be mapped to one or more than one power control parameter sets.

Multiplexing PUCCH(s) with Multi-TRP and Multi-Panel Operation

[0039] When multiple PUCCHs using different Tx beams or panels overlap with PUCCH with single or multiple beams or panels, certain mechanisms need to be defined for multiplexing PUCCH(s) with different UCI types to allow alignment between gNB and UE.

[0040] Embodiments of multiplexing PUCCH(s) with multi-TRP and multi-panel operation are provided as follows. In one embodiment, when PUCCHs carrying a first UCI type using more than beams or panels overlap with PUCCH carrying a second UCI type using one beam or panel (beam A or panel A) in a slot, if the timeline requirement is satisfied, the first and second UCI type are multiplexed on PUCCH using beam A or panel A and the first UCI type is carried by PUCCH using other beams or panels, otherwise it is considered as an error case. The multiplexing rule is defined in accordance with the multiplexing rule as defined in NR.

[0041] FIG. 4C illustrates one example of multiplexing PUCCHs with different UCI types with multi-panel operation. In this example, UE is equipped with two panels and can transmit two beams simultaneously. Based on the multiplexing rule as mentioned above, HARQ-ACK and CSI report are multiplexed in a PUCCH using panel A or beam A In addition, HARQ-ACK is carried by PUCCH using panel B or beam B.

[0042] In another embodiment, when PUCCHs carrying a first UCI type using more than beams or panels overlap with PUCCH carrying a second UCI type using one beam or panel (beam A or panel A) in a slot, if the timeline requirement is satisfied, the first and second UCI type are multiplexed on PUCCH using all beams and panels, otherwise it is considered as an error case. The multiplexing rule is defined in accordance with the multiplexing rule as defined in NR. Note that the PUCCH resources for a combined first and second UCI types using different beams or panels may be same or different depending on the allocated resource.

[0043] FIG. 4D illustrates one example of multiplexing PUCCHs with different UCI types with multi-panel operation. In this example, UE is equipped with two panels and can transmit two beams simultaneously. Based on the multiplexing rule as mentioned above, HARQ-ACK and CSI report are multiplexed in two PUCCHs using both panel A and B or beam A and B.

[0044] In another embodiment, when PUCCHs carrying a first UCI type using more than beams or panels overlap with PUCCH carrying a second UCI type using one beam or panel (beam A or panel A) in a slot, if the timeline requirement is satisfied, PUCCH carrying the second UCI type is dropped and UE transmits the PUCCHs carrying the first UCI type using more than beams or panels, otherwise it is considered as an error case.

[0045] FIG. 4E illustrates one example of multiplexing PUCCHs with different UCI types with multi-panel operation. In this example, UE is equipped with two panels and can transmit two beams simultaneously. Based on the multiplexing rule as mentioned above, CSI report is dropped and HARQ-ACK feedback is transmitted by two PUCCHs using two panels or beams.

Multiplexing PUCCH(s) and PUSCH(s) with Multi-TRP and Multi-Panel Operation

[0046] When a UE is configured or indicated to transmit PUSCH or PUCCH using multiple panels or beams, and when multiple PUSCHs using different Tx beams or panels overlap with PUCCH with single or multiple beams or panels, certain mechanisms need to be defined for multiplexing PUCCH(s) and PUSCH(s) to allow alignment between the gNB and UE. Embodiments of multiplexing PUCCH(s) and PUSCH(s) with multi-TRP and multi-panel operation are provided as follows.

[0047] In one embodiment, when a UE is configured or indicated to transmit PUSCHs using one or more than one Tx beams or panels, and when PUSCHs overlap with PUCCH carrying UCI using one or more than one Tx beams or panels in a slot, if the timeline requirement is satisfied, and if PUSCH is based on coherent transmission, UCI is multiplexed on all PUSCHs using more than one Tx beams or panels, otherwise, it is considered as an error ease.

[0048] FIG. 4F illustrates one example of multiplexing PUSCHs and PUCCH with multi-panel operation. In this example, UE is equipped with two panels and can transmit two beams simultaneously. Based on the multiplexing rule as mentioned above, UCI is multiplexed on both PUSCHs using different beams or panels.

[0049] In another embodiment, when a UE is configured or indicated to transmit PUSCHs using one or more than one Tx beams or panels, and when PUSCHs overlap with PUCCH carrying UCI using one or more than one Tx beams or panels, if the timeline requirement is satisfied, and if PUSCH is based on non-coherent transmission, UCI is multiplexed on the PUSCH using the same panel or beam or antenna port (AP) as PUCCH, otherwise, it is considered as an error ease.

[0050] FIG. 4G illustrates one example of multiplexing PUSCHs and PUCCH with multi-panel operation. In this example, UE is equipped with two panels and can transmit two beams simultaneously. Based on the multiplexing rule as mentioned above, UCI is multiplexed on the PUSCH using panel A, e.g., the same panel configured for PUCCH transmission.

[0051] In another embodiment, when a UE is configured or indicated to transmit PUSCHs using one or more than one Tx beams or panels, and when PUSCHs overlap with PUCCH carrying UCI using one or more than one Tx beams or panels in a slot, if the timeline requirement is satisfied, and if PUSCH is based on non-coherent transmission, UCI is multiplexed on the PUSCH with the lowest Demodulation reference signal (DM-RS) AP or with the lowest frequency resource, otherwise, it is considered as an error case. Note that the above may also apply for the case of coherent PUSCH transmission using more than one beams or panels.

[0052] FIG. 4H illustrates one example of multiplexing PUSCHs and PUCCH with multi-panel operation. In this example, UE is equipped with two panels and can transmit two beams simultaneously. Based on the multiplexing rule as mentioned above, UCI is multiplexed on the PUSCH using panel B which has lower frequency resource than the PUSCH using panel A.

[0053] In another embodiment, when UE is configured or indicated to transmit PUSCHs using one or more than one Tx beams or panels, and when PUSCHs overlap with PUCCH carrying UCI using one or more than one Tx beams or panels in a slot, if the timeline requirement is satisfied, one of the PUSCHs or PUCCHs is dropped, otherwise, it is considered as an error case.

Beam Management

[0054] In NR implementations, beam management refers to a set of L1/L2 procedures to acquire and maintain a set of transmission/reception point(s) (TRP or TRxP) and/or UE beams that can be used for downlink (DL) and uplink (UL) transmission/reception. Beam management includes various operations or procedures, such as beam determination, beam management, beam reporting, and beam sweeping operations/procedures. Beam determination refers to TRxP(s) or UE ability to select of its own transmission (Tx)/reception (Rx) beam(s). Beam measurement refers to TRP or UE ability to measure characteristics of received beamformed signals. Beam reporting refers the UE ability to report information of beamformed signal(s) based on beam measurement. Beam sweeping refers to operation(s) of covering a spatial area, with beams transmitted and/or received during a time interval in a predetermined manner.

[0055] Tx/Rx beam correspondence at a TRxP holds if at least one of the following conditions are satisfied: TRxP is able to determine a TRxP Rx beam for the uplink reception based on UE's downlink measurement on TRxP's one or more Tx beams; and TRxP is able to determine a TRxP Tx beam for the downlink transmission based on TRxP's uplink measurement on TRxP's one or more Rx beams. Tx/Rx beam correspondence at a UE holds if at least one of the following is satisfied: UE is able to determine a UE Tx beam for the uplink transmission based on UE's downlink measurement on UE's one or more Rx beams; UE is able to determine a UE Rx beam for the downlink reception based on TRxP's indication based on uplink measurement on UE's one or more Tx beams; and Capability indication of UE beam correspondence related information to TRxP is supported.

[0056] In some implementations, DL beam management includes procedures P-1, P-2, and P-3. Procedure P-1 is used to enable UE measurement on different TRxP Tx beams to support selection of TRxP Tx beams/UE Rx beam(s). For beamforming at TRxP, procedure P-1 typically includes a intra/inter-TRxP Tx beam sweep from a set of different beams. For beamforming at the UE, procedure P-1 typically includes a UE Rx beam sweep from a set of different beams.

[0057] Procedure P-2 is used to enable UE measurement on different TRxP Tx beams to possibly change inter/intra-TRxP Tx beam(s). Procedure P-2 may be a special case of procedure P-1 wherein procedure P-2 is used for a possibly smaller set of beams for beam refinement than procedure P-1. Procedure P-3 is used to enable UE measurement on the same TRxP Tx beam to change UE Rx beam in the case UE uses beamforming. Procedures P-1, P-2, and P-3 may be used for aperiodic beam reporting.

[0058] UE measurements based on RS for beam management (at least CSI-RS) is composed of K beams (where K is a total number of configured beams), and the UE reports measurement results of N selected Tx beams (where N may or may not be a fixed number). The procedure based on RS for mobility purpose is not precluded. Beam information that is to be reported includes measurement quantities for the N beam(s) and information indicating NDL Tx beam(s), if N<K. Other information or data may be included in or with the beam information. When a UE is configured with K′>I non-zero power (NZP) CSI-RS resources, a UE can report N′ CSI-RS Resource Indicator (CRIs).

[0059] In some NR implementations, a UE can trigger a mechanism to recover from beam failure, which is referred to a “beam recovery”, “beam failure recovery request procedure”, and/or the like. A beam failure event may occur when the quality of beam pair link(s) of an associated control channel falls below a threshold, when a time-out of an associated timer occurs, or the like. The beam recovery mechanism is triggered when beam failure occurs. The network may explicitly configure the UE with resources for UL transmission of signals for recovery purposes. Configurations of resources are supported where the base station (e.g., a TRP, gNB, or the like) is listening from all or partial directions (e.g., a random access region). The UL transmission/resources to report beam failure can be located in the same time instance as a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) or resources orthogonal to PRACH resources, or at a time instance (configurable for a UE) different from PRACH. Transmission of DL signal is supported for allowing the UE to monitor the beams for identifying new potential beams.

[0060] For beam failure recovery, a beam failure may be declared if one, multiple, or all serving PDCCH beams fail. The beam failure recovery request procedure is initiated when a beam failure is declared. For example, the beam failure recovery request procedure may be used for indicating to a serving gNB (or TRP) of a new SSB or CSI-RS when beam failure is detected on a serving SSB(s)/CSI-RS(s). A beam failure may be detected by the lower layers and indicated to a Media Access Control (MAC) entity of the UE.

[0061] In some implementations, beam management includes providing or not providing beam-related indications. When beam-related indication is provided, information pertaining to UE-side beamforming/receiving procedure used for CSI-RS-based measurement can be indicated through QCL to the UE. The same or different beams on the control channel and the corresponding data channel transmissions may be supported.

[0062] Downlink (DL) beam indications are based on a Transmission Configuration Indication (TCI) state(s). The TCI state(s) are indicated in a TCI list that is configured by radio resource control (RRC) and/or Media Access Control (MAC) Control Element (CE). In some implementations, a UE can be configured up to M TCI-States by higher layer signaling to decode PDSCH according to a detected PDCCH with downlink control information (DCI) intended for the UE and the given serving cell where M depends on the UE capability. Each configured TCI state includes one reference signal (RS) set TCI-RS-SetConfig. Each TCI-RS-SetConfig includes parameters for configuring quasi co-location relationship(s) between the RSs in the RS set and the demodulation reference signal (DM-RS) port group of the PDSCH. The RS set includes a reference to either one or two DL RSs and an associated quasi co-location type (QCL-Type) for each DL RS(s) configured by the higher layer parameter QCL-Type. For the case of two DL RSs, the QCL types shall not be the same, regardless of whether the references are to the same DL RS or different DL RSs. The quasi co-location types indicated to the UE are based on the higher layer parameter QCL-Type and take one or a combination of the following types: QCL-TypeA: {Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay, delay spread}; QCL-TypeB: {Doppler shift, Doppler spread}; QCL-TypeC: {average delay, Doppler shift}; QCL-TypeD: {Spatial Rx parameter}.

[0063] The UE may receive a selection command (e.g., in a MAC CE), which is used to map up to 8 TCI states to the codepoints of the DCI field TCI-states. Until a UE receives higher layer configuration of TCI states and before reception of the activation command, the UE may assume that the antenna ports of one DM-RS port group of PDSCH of a serving cell are spatially quasi co-located with the SSB determined in the initial access procedure. When the number of TCI states in TCI-States is less than or equal to 8, the DCI field TCI-states directly indicates the TCI state.

[0064] A beam failure recovery request could be delivered over dedicated PRACH or Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) resources. For example, a UE can be configured, for a serving cell, with a set q₀ of periodic CSI-RS resource configuration indexes by higher layer parameter Beam-Failure-Detection-RS-ResourceConfig and with a set q₁ of CSI-RS resource configuration indexes and/or SS/PBCH block indexes by higher layer parameter Candidate-Beam-RS-List for radio link quality measurements on the serving cell. If there is no configuration, the beam failure detection could be based on CSI-RS or SSB, which is spatially Quasi Co-Located (QCLed) with the PDCCH Demodulation Reference Signal (DMRS). For example, if the UE is not provided with the higher layer parameter Beam-Failure-Detection-RS-ResourceConfig, the UE determines q₀ to include SS/PBCH blocks and periodic CSI-RS configurations with same values for higher layer parameter TCI-StatesPDCCH as for control resource sets (CORESET) that the UE is configured for monitoring PDCCH.

[0065] The physical layer of a UE assesses the radio link quality according to a set q₀ of resource configurations against a threshold Q_out,LR. The threshold Q_out,LR corresponds to a default value of higher layer parameter RIM-IS-OOS-thresholdConfig and Beam-failure-candidate-beam-threshold, respectively. For the set q₀, the UE assesses the radio link quality only according to periodic CSI-RS resource configurations or SS/PBCH blocks that are quasi co-located, with the DM-RS of PDCCH receptions DM-RS monitored by the UE. The UE applies the configured Q_in,LR threshold for the periodic CSI-RS resource configurations. The UE applies the Q_out,LR threshold for SS/PBCH blocks after scaling a SS/PBCH block transmission power with a value provided by higher layer parameter Pc_SS.

[0066] In some implementations, if a beam failure indication has been received by a MAC entity from lower layers, then the MAC entity starts a beam failure recovery timer (beamFailureRecoveryTimer) and initiates a Random Access procedure. If the beamFailureRecoveryTimer expires, then the MAC entity indicates a beam failure recovery request failure to upper layers. If a DL assignment or UL grant has been received (e.g., on a PDCCH addressed for a cell radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI)), then the MAC entity may stop and reset beamFailureRecoveryTimer and consider the beam failure recovery request procedure to be successfully completed.

Beam Measurement

[0067] In embodiments, a UE (e.g., in RRC_CONNECTED mode) measures one or multiple beams of a cell and the measurement results (power values) are averaged to derive the cell quality. The UE may be configured to consider a subset of the detected beams, such as the N best beams above an absolute threshold. Filtering takes place at two different levels include at the physical layer (PHY) to derive beam quality and then at the RRC level to derive cell quality from multiple beams. Cell quality from beam measurements may be derived in the same way for the serving cell(s) and for the non-serving cell(s). Measurement reports contain the measurement results of the X best beams if the UE is configured to do so by the gNB. For channel state estimation purposes, the UE may be configured to measure CSI-RS resources and estimate a downlink channel state based on the CSI-RS measurements. The UE feeds the estimated channel state back to the gNB to be used in link adaptation.

[0068] An example measurement model is shown by FIG. 41. In FIG. 41, point A includes measurements (e.g., beam specific samples) internal to the PHY. Layer I (LI) filtering includes internal layer 1 filtering circuitry for filtering the inputs measured at point A The exact filtering mechanisms and how the measurements are actually executed at the PHY may be implementation specific. The measurements (e.g., beam specific measurements) are reported by the LI filtering to layer 3 (L3) beam filtering circuitry and the beam consolidation/selection circuitry at point A¹.

[0069] The Beam Consolidation/Selection circuitry includes circuitry where beam specific measurements are consolidated to derive cell quality. For example, if N>1, else when N=I the best beam measurement may be selected to derive cell quality. The configuration of the beam is provided by RRC signaling. A measurement (e.g., cell quality) derived from the beam-specific measurements are then be reported to L3 filtering for cell quality circuitry after beam consolidation/selection. In some embodiments, the reporting period at point B may be equal to one measurement period at point A¹.

[0070] The L3 filtering for cell quality circuitry is configured to filter the measurements provided at point B. The configuration of the Layer 3 filters is provided by the aforementioned RRC signaling or different/separate RRC signaling. In some embodiments, the filtering reporting period at point C may be equal to one measurement period at point B. A measurement after processing in the layer 3 filter circuitry is provided to the evaluation of reporting criteria circuitry at point C. In some embodiments, the reporting rate may be identical to the reporting rate at point B. This measurement input may be used for one or more evaluation of reporting criteria.

[0071] Evaluation of reporting criteria circuitry is configured to check whether actual measurement reporting is necessary at point D. The evaluation can be based on more than one flow of measurements at reference point C. In one example, the evaluation may involve a comparison between different measurements, such as a measurement provided at point C and another measurement provided at point C¹. In embodiments, the UE may evaluate the reporting criteria at least every time a new measurement result is reported at point C, C¹. The reporting criteria configuration is provided by the aforementioned RRC signaling (UE measurements) or different/separate RRC signaling. After the evaluation, measurement report information (e.g., as a message) is sent on the radio interface at point D.

[0072] Referring back to point A¹, measurements provided at point A¹ are provided to L3 Beam filtering circuitry, which is configured to perform beam filtering of the provided measurements (e.g., beam specific measurements). The configuration of the beam filters is provided by the aforementioned RRC signaling or different/separate RRC signaling. In embodiments, the filtering reporting period at point E may be equal to one measurement period at A¹. The K beams may correspond to the measurements on New Radio (NR)-synchronization signal (SS) block (SSB) or Channel State Information Reference Signal (CSI-RS) resources configured for L3 mobility by a gNB and detected by the UE at L1.

[0073] After processing in the beam filter measurement (e.g., beam-specific measurement), a measurement is provided to beam selection for reporting circuitry at point E. This measurement is used as an input for selecting the X measurements to be reported. In embodiments, the reporting rate may be identical to the reporting rate at point A¹. The beam selection for beam reporting circuitry is configured to select the X measurements from the measurements provided at point E. The configuration of this module is provided by the aforementioned RRC signaling or different/separate RRC signaling. The beam measurement information to be included m a measurement report is sent or scheduled for transmission on the radio interface at point F.

[0074] The measurement reports include a measurement identity of an associated measurement configuration that triggered the reporting. The measurement reports may also include cell and beam measurement quantities to be included in measurement reports that are configured by the network (e.g., using RRC signaling). The measurement reports may also include number of non-serving cells to be reported can be limited through configuration by the network. Cell(s) belonging to a blacklist configured by the network are not used in event evaluation and reporting. By contrast, when a whitelist is configured by the network, only the cells belonging to the whitelist are used in event evaluation and reporting. The beam measurements to be included in measurement reports are configured by the network, and such measurement reports include or indicate a beam identifier only, a measurement result, and beam identifier, or no beam reporting.

[0075] FIG. 5 illustrates an architecture of a system 500 of a network in accordance with some embodiments. The system 500 is shown to include a user equipment (UE) 501 and a UE 502. The UEs 501 and 502 are illustrated as smartphones (e.g., handheld touchscreen mobile computing devices connectable to one or more cellular networks), but may also comprise any mobile or non-mobile computing device, such as Personal Data Assistants (PDAs), pagers, laptop computers, desktop computers, wireless handsets, or any computing device including a wireless communications interface.

[0076] In some embodiments, any of the UEs 501 and 502 can comprise an Internet of Things (IoT) UE, which can comprise a network access layer designed for low-power IoT applications utilizing short-lived UE connections. An IoT UE can utilize technologies such as machine-to-machine (M2M) or machine-type communications (MTC) for exchanging data with an MTC server or device via a public land mobile network (PLMN), Proximity-Based Service (ProSc) or device-to-device (D2D) communication, sensor networks, or IoT networks. The M2M or MTC exchange of data may be a machine-initiated exchange of data. An IoT network describes interconnecting IoT UEs, which may include uniquely identifiable embedded computing devices (within the Internet infrastructure), with short-lived connections. The IoT UEs may execute background applications (e.g., keep-alive messages, status updates, etc.) to facilitate the connections of the IoT network.

[0077] The UEs 501 and 502 may be configured to connect, e.g., communicatively couple, with a radio access network (RAN) 510—the RAN 510 may be, for example, an Evolved Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN), a NextGen RAN (NG RAN), or some other type of RAN. The UEs 501 and 502 utilize connections 503 and 504, respectively, each of which comprises a physical communications interface or layer (discussed in further detail below); in this example, the connections 503 and 504 are illustrated as an air interface to enable communicative coupling, and can be consistent with cellular communications protocols, such as a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) protocol, a code-division multiple access (CDMA) network protocol, a Push-to-Talk (PTT) protocol, a PTT over Cellular (POC) protocol, a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) protocol, a 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) protocol, a fifth generation (5G) protocol, a New Radio (NR) protocol, and the like.

[0078] In this embodiment, the UEs 501 and 502 may further directly exchange communication data via a ProSe interface 505. The ProSe interface 505 may alternatively be referred to as a sidelink interface comprising one or more logical channels, including but not limited to a Physical Sidelink Control Channel (PSCCH), a Physical Sidelink Shared Channel (PSSCH), a Physical Sidelink Discovery Channel (PSDCH), and a Physical Sidelink Broadcast Channel (PSBCH).

[0079] The UE 502 is shown to be configured to access an access point (AP) 506 via connection 507. The connection 507 can comprise a local wireless connection, such as a connection consistent with any IEEE 802.11 protocol, wherein the AP 506 would comprise a wireless fidelity (WiFi®) router. In this example, the AP 506 is shown to be connected to the Internet without connecting to the core network of the wireless system (described in further detail below).

[0080] The RAN 510 can include one or more access nodes that enable the connections 503 and 504. These access nodes (ANs) can be referred to as base stations (BSs), NodeBs, evolved NodeBs (eNBs), next Generation NodeBs (gNB), RAN nodes, and so forth, and can comprise ground stations (e.g., terrestrial access points) or satellite stations providing coverage within a geographic area (e.g., a cell). The RAN 510 may include one or more RAN nodes for providing macrocells, e.g., macro RAN node 511, and one or more RAN nodes for providing femtocells or picocells (e.g., cells having smaller coverage areas, smaller user capacity, or higher bandwidth compared to macrocells), e.g., low power (LP) RAN node 512.

[0081] Any of the RAN nodes 511 and 512 can terminate the air interface protocol and can be the first point of contact for the UEs 501 and 502. In some embodiments, any of the RAN nodes 511 and 512 can fulfill various logical functions for the RAN 510 including, but not limited to, radio network controller (RNC) functions such as radio bearer management, uplink and downlink dynamic radio resource management and data packet scheduling, and mobility management.

[0082] In accordance with some embodiments, the UEs 501 and 502 can be configured to communicate using Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (OFDM) communication signals with each other or with any of the RAN nodes 511 and 512 over a multicarrier communication channel in accordance various communication techniques, such as, but not limited to, an Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) communication technique (e.g., for downlink communications) or a Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SCFDMA) communication technique (e.g., for uplink and ProSc or sidelink communications), although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. The OFDM signals can comprise a plurality of orthogonal subcarriers.

[0083] In some embodiments, a downlink resource grid can be used for downlink transmissions from any of the RAN nodes 511 and 512 to the UEs 501 and 502, while uplink transmissions can utilize similar techniques. The grid can be a time-frequency grid, called a resource grid or time-frequency resource grid, which is the physical resource in the downlink in each slot. Such a time-frequency plane representation is a common practice for OFDM systems, which makes it intuitive for radio resource allocation. Each column and each row of the resource grid corresponds to one OFDM symbol and one OFDM subcarrier, respectively. The duration of the resource grid in the time domain corresponds to one slot in a radio frame. The smallest time-frequency unit in a resource grid is denoted as a resource element. Each resource grid comprises a number of resource blocks, which describe the mapping of certain physical channels to resource elements. Each resource block comprises a collection of resource elements; in the frequency domain, this may represent the smallest quantity of resources that currently can be allocated. There are several different physical downlink channels that are conveyed using such resource blocks.

[0084] The physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) may carry user data and higher-layer signaling to the UEs 501 and 502. The physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) may carry information about the transport format and resource allocations related to the PDSCH channel, among other things. It may also inform the UEs 501 and 502 about the transport format, resource allocation, and H-ARQ (Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request) information related to the uplink shared channel. Typically, downlink scheduling (assigning control and shared channel resource blocks to the UE 502 within a cell) may be performed at any of the RAN nodes 511 and 512 based on channel quality information fed back from any of the UEs 501 and 502. The downlink resource assignment information may be sent on the PDCCH used for (e.g., assigned to) each of the UEs 501 and 502.

[0085] The PDCCH may use control channel elements (CCEs) to convey the control information. Before being mapped to resource elements, the PDCCH complex-valued symbols may first be organized into quadruplets, which may then be permuted using a sub-block interleaver for rate matching. Each PDCCH may be transmitted using one or more of these CCEs, where each CCE may correspond to nine sets of four physical resource elements known as resource element groups (REGs). Four Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK) symbols may be mapped to each REG. The PDCCH can be transmitted using one or more CCEs, depending on the size of the downlink control information (DCI) and the channel condition. There can be four or more different PDCCH formats defined in LTE with different numbers of CCEs (e.g., aggregation level, L=1, 2, 4, or 8).

[0086] Some embodiments may use concepts for resource allocation for control channel information that are an extension of the above-described concepts. For example, some embodiments may utilize an enhanced physical downlink control channel (EPDCCH) that uses PDSCH resources for control information transmission. The EPDCCH may be transmitted using one or more enhanced control channel elements (ECCEs). Similar to above, each ECCE may correspond to nine sets of four physical resource elements known as enhanced resource element groups (EREGs). An ECCE may have other numbers of EREGs in some situations.

[0087] The RAN 510 is shown to be communicatively coupled to a core network (CN) 520—via an SI interface 513. In embodiments, the CN 520 may be an evolved packet core (EPC) network, a NextGen Packet Core (NPC) network, or some other type of CN. In this embodiment, the SI interface 513 is split into two parts: the S1-U interface 514, which carries traffic data between the RAN nodes 511 and 512 and the serving gateway (S-GW) 522, and the SI-mobility management entity (MME) interface 515, which is a signaling interface between the RAN nodes 511 and 512 and MMEs 521.

[0088] In this embodiment, the CN 520 comprises the MMEs 521, the S-GW 522, the Packet Data Network (PDN) Gateway (P-GW) 523, and a home subscriber server (HSS) 524. The MMEs 521 may be similar in function to the control plane of legacy Serving General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) Support Nodes (SGSN). The MMEs 521 may manage mobility aspects in access such as gateway selection and tracking area list management. The HSS 524 may comprise a database for network users, including subscription-related information to support the network entities' handling of communication sessions. The CN 520 may comprise one or several HSSs 524, depending on the number of mobile subscribers, on the capacity of the equipment, on the organization of the network, etc. For example, the HSS 524 can provide support for routing/roaming, authentication, authorization, naming/addressing resolution, location dependencies, etc.

[0089] The S-GW 522 may terminate the S1 interface 513 towards the RAN 510, and routes data packets between the RAN 510 and the CN 520. In addition, the S-GW 522 may be a local mobility anchor point for inter-RAN node handovers and also may provide an anchor for inter-3GPP mobility. Other responsibilities may include lawful intercept, charging, and some policy enforcement.

[0090] The P-GW 523 may terminate an SGi interface toward a PDN. The P-GW 523 may route data packets between the EPC network and external networks such as a network including the application server 530 (alternatively referred to as application function (AF)) via an Internet Protocol (IP) interface 525. Generally, the application server 530 may be an element offering applications that use IP bearer resources with the core network (e.g., UMTS Packet Services (PS) domain, LTE PS data services, etc.). In this embodiment, the P-GW 523 is shown to be communicatively coupled to an application server 530 via an IP communications interface 525. The application server 530 can also be configured to support one or more communication services (e.g., Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VOIP) sessions, PTT sessions, group communication sessions, social networking services, etc.) for the UEs 501 and 502 via the CN 520.

[0091] The P-GW 523 may further be a node for policy enforcement and charging data collection. Policy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCRF) 526 is the policy and charging control element of the CN 520. In a non-roaming scenario, there may be a single PCRF in the Home Public Land Mobile Network (HPLMN) associated with a UE's Internet Protocol Connectivity Access Network (IP-CAN) session. In a roaming scenario with local breakout of traffic, there may be two PCRFs associated with a UE's IP-CAN session: a Home PCRF (H-PCRF) within a HPLMN and a Visited PCRF (V-PCRF) within a Visited Public Land Mobile Network (VPLMN). The PCRF 526 may be communicatively coupled to the application server 530 via the P-GW 523. The application server 530 may signal the PCRF 526 to indicate a new service flow and select the appropriate Quality of Service (QoS) and charging parameters. The PCRF 526 may provision this rule into a Policy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCEF) (not shown) with the appropriate traffic flow template (TFT) and QoS class of identifier (QCI), which commences the QoS and charging as specified by the application server 530.

[0092] FIG. 6 illustrates example components of a device 600 in accordance with some embodiments. In some embodiments, the device 600 may include application circuitry 602, baseband circuitry 604, Radio Frequency (RF) circuitry 606, front-end module (FEM) circuitry 608, one or more antennas 610, and power management circuitry (PMC) 612 coupled together at least as shown. The components of the illustrated device 600 may be included in a UE or a RAN node. In some embodiments, the device 600 may include fewer elements (e.g., a RAN node may not utilize application circuitry 602, and instead include a processor/controller to process IP data received from an EPC). In some embodiments, the device 600 may include additional elements such as, for example, memory/storage, display, camera, sensor, or input/output (I/O) interface. In other embodiments, the components described below may be included in more than one device (e.g., said circuitries may be separately included in more than one device for Cloud-RAN (C-RAN) implementations).

[0093] The application circuitry 602 may include one or more application processors. For example, the application circuitry 602 may include circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core or multi-core processors. The processor(s) may include any combination of general-purpose processors and dedicated processors (e.g., graphics processors, application processors, etc.). The processors may be coupled with or may include memory/storage and may be configured to execute instructions stored in the memory/storage to enable various applications or operating systems to run on the device 600. In some embodiments, processors of application circuitry 602 may process IP data packets received from an EPC.

[0094] The baseband circuitry 604 may include circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core or multi-core processors. The baseband circuitry 604 may include one or more baseband processors or control logic to process baseband signals received from a receive signal path of the RF circuitry 606 and to generate baseband signals for a transmit signal path of the RF circuitry 606. Baseband processing circuitry 604 may interface with the application circuitry 602 for generation and processing of the baseband signals and for controlling operations of the RF circuitry 606. For example, in some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 604 may include a third generation (3G) baseband processor 604A, a fourth generation (4G) baseband processor 604B, a fifth generation (5G) baseband processor 604C, or other baseband processor(s) 604D for other existing generations, generations in development or to be developed in the future (e.g., second generation (2G), sixth generation (6G), etc.). The baseband circuitry 604 (e.g., one or more of baseband processors 604A-D) may handle various radio control functions that enable communication with one or more radio networks via the RF circuitry 606. In other embodiments, some or all of the functionality of baseband processors 604A-D may be included in modules stored in the memory 604G and executed via a Central Processing Unit (CPU) 604E. The radio control functions may include, but are not limited to, signal modulation/demodulation, encoding/decoding, radio frequency shifting, etc. In some embodiments, modulation/demodulation circuitry of the baseband circuitry 604 may include Fast-Fourier Transform (FFT), precoding, or constellation mapping/demapping functionality. In some embodiments, encoding/decoding circuitry of the baseband circuitry 604 may include convolution, tail-biting convolution, turbo, Viterbi, or Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) encoder/decoder functionality. Embodiments of modulation/demodulation and encoder/decoder functionality are not limited to these examples and may include other suitable functionality in other embodiments.

[0095] In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 604 may include one or more audio digital signal processor(s) (DSP) 604F. The audio DSP(s) 604F may be include elements for compression/decompression and echo cancellation and may include other suitable processing elements in other embodiments. Components of the baseband circuitry may be suitably combined in a single chip, a single chipset, or disposed on a same circuit board in some embodiments. In some embodiments, some or all of the constituent components of the baseband circuitry 604 and the application circuitry 602 may be implemented together such as, for example, on a system on a chip (SOC).

[0096] In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 604 may provide for communication compatible with one or more radio technologies. For example, in some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 604 may support communication with an evolved universal terrestrial radio access network (EUTRAN) or other wireless metropolitan area networks (WMAN), a wireless local area network (WLAN), a wireless personal area network (WPAN). Embodiments in which the baseband circuitry 604 is configured to support radio communications of more than one wireless protocol may be referred to as multi-mode baseband circuitry.

[0097] RF circuitry 606 may enable communication with wireless networks using modulated electromagnetic radiation through a non-solid medium. In various embodiments, the RF circuitry 606 may include switches, filters, amplifiers, etc. to facilitate the communication with the wireless network. RF circuitry 606 may include a receive signal path which may include circuitry to down-convert RF signals received from the FEM circuitry 608 and provide baseband signals to the baseband circuitry 604. RF circuitry 606 may also include a transmit signal path which may include circuitry to up-convert baseband signals provided by the baseband circuitry 604 and provide RF output signals to the FEM circuitry 608 for transmission.

[0098] In some embodiments, the receive signal path of the RF circuitry 606 may include mixer circuitry 606a, amplifier circuitry 606b and filter circuitry 606c. In some embodiments, the transmit signal path of the RF circuitry 606 may include filter circuitry 606c and mixer circuitry 606a. RF circuitry 606 may also include synthesizer circuitry 606d for synthesizing a frequency for use by the mixer circuitry 606a of the receive signal path and the transmit signal path. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 606a of the receive signal path may be configured to down-convert RF signals received from the FEM circuitry 608 based on the synthesized frequency provided by synthesizer circuitry 606d. The amplifier circuitry 606b may be configured to amplify the down-converted signals and the filter circuitry 606c may be a low-pass filter (LPF) or band-pass filter (BPF) configured to remove unwanted signals from the down-converted signals to generate output baseband signals. Output baseband signals may be provided to the baseband circuitry 604 for further processing. In some embodiments, the output baseband signals may be zero-frequency baseband signals, although this is not a requirement. In some embodiments, mixer circuitry 606a of the receive signal path may comprise passive mixers, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

[0099] In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 606a of the transmit signal path may be configured to up-convert input baseband signals based on the synthesized frequency provided by the synthesizer circuitry 606d to generate RF output signals for the FEM circuitry 608. The baseband signals may be provided by the baseband circuitry 604 and may be filtered by filter circuitry 606c.

[0100] In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 606a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 606a of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for quadrature downconversion and upconversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 606a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 606a of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for image rejection (e.g., Hartley image rejection). In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 606a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 606a of the transmit signal path may be arranged for direct downconversion and direct upconversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 606a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 606a of the transmit signal path may be configured for super-heterodyne operation.

[0101] In some embodiments, the output baseband signals and the input baseband signals may be analog baseband signals, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some alternate embodiments, the output baseband signals and the input baseband signals may be digital baseband signals. In these alternate embodiments, the RF circuitry 606 may include analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and digital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuitry and the baseband circuitry 604 may include a digital baseband interface to communicate with the RF circuitry 606.

[0102] In some dual-mode embodiments, a separate radio IC circuitry may be provided for processing signals for each spectrum, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

[0103] In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry 606d may be a fractional-N synthesizer or a fractional NIN+1 synthesizer, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect as other types of frequency synthesizers may be suitable. For example, synthesizer circuitry 606d may be a delta-sigma synthesizer, a frequency multiplier, or a synthesizer comprising a phase-locked loop with a frequency divider.

[0104] The synthesizer circuitry 606d may be configured to synthesize an output frequency for use by the mixer circuitry 606a of the RF circuitry 606 based on a frequency input and a divider control input. In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry 606d may be a fractional NIN+1 synthesizer.

[0105] In some embodiments, frequency input may be provided by a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO), although that is not a requirement. Divider control input may be provided by either the baseband circuitry 604 or the applications processor 602 depending on the desired output frequency. In some embodiments, a divider control input (e.g., N) may be determined from a look-up table based on a channel indicated by the applications processor 602.

[0106] Synthesizer circuitry 606d of the RF circuitry 606 may include a divider, a delay-locked loop (DLL), a multiplexer and a phase accumulator. In some embodiments, the divider may be a dual modulus divider (DMD) and the phase accumulator may be a digital phase accumulator (DPA). In some embodiments, the DMD may be configured to divide the input signal by either N or N+1 (e.g., based on a carry out) to provide a fractional division ratio. In some example embodiments, the DLL may include a set of cascaded, tunable, delay elements, a phase detector, a charge pump and a D-type flip-flop. In these embodiments, the delay elements may be configured to break a VCO period up into Nd equal packets of phase, where Nd is the number of delay elements in the delay line. In this way, the DLL provides negative feedback to help ensure that the total delay through the delay line is one VCO cycle.

[0107] In some embodiments, synthesizer circuitry 606d may be configured to generate a carrier frequency as the output frequency, while in other embodiments, the output frequency may be a multiple of the carrier frequency (e.g., twice the carrier frequency, four times the carrier frequency) and used in conjunction with quadrature generator and divider circuitry to generate multiple signals at the carrier frequency with multiple different phases with respect to each other. In some embodiments, the output frequency may be a LO frequency (±LO). In some embodiments, the RF circuitry 606 may include an IQ/polar converter.

[0108] FEM circuitry 608 may include a receive signal path, which may include circuitry configured to operate on RF signals received from one or more antennas 610, amplify the received signals and provide the amplified versions of the received signals to the RF circuitry 606 for further processing. FEM circuitry 608 may also include a transmit signal path, which may include circuitry configured to amplify signals for transmission provided by the RF circuitry 606 for transmission by one or more of the one or more antennas 610. In various embodiments, the amplification through the transmit or receive signal paths may be done solely in the RF circuitry 606, solely in the FEM 608, or in both the RF circuitry 606 and the FEM 608.

[0109] In some embodiments, the FEM circuitry 608 may include a TX/RX switch to switch between transmit mode and receive mode operation. The FEM circuitry 608 may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the FEM circuitry 608 may include a low noise amplifier (LNA) to amplify received RF signals and provide the amplified received RF signals as an output (e.g., to the RF circuitry 606). The transmit signal path of the FEM circuitry 608 may include a power amplifier (PA) to amplify input RF signals (e.g., provided by RF circuitry 606), and one or more filters to generate RF signals for subsequent transmission (e.g., by one or more of the one or more antennas 610).

[0110] In some embodiments, the PMC 612 may manage power provided to the baseband circuitry 604. In particular, the PMC 612 may control power-source selection, voltage scaling, battery charging, or DC-to-DC conversion. The PMC 612 may often be included when the device 600 is capable of being powered by a battery, for example, when the device is included in a UE. The PMC 612 may increase the power conversion efficiency while providing desirable implementation size and heat dissipation characteristics.

[0111] FIG. 6 shows the PMC 612 coupled only with the baseband circuitry 604. However, in other embodiments, the PMC 612 may be additionally or alternatively coupled with, and perform similar power management operations for, other components such as, but not limited to, application circuitry 602, RF circuitry 606, or FEM 608.

[0112] In some embodiments, the PMC 612 may control, or otherwise be part of, various power saving mechanisms of the device 600. For example, if the device 600 is in an RRC_Connected state, where it is still connected to the RAN node as it expects to receive traffic shortly, then it may enter a state known as Discontinuous Reception Mode (DRX) after a period of inactivity. During this state, the device 600 may power down for brief intervals of time and thus save power.

[0113] If there is no data traffic activity for an extended period of time, then the device 600 may transition off to an RRC_Idle state, where it disconnects from the network and does not perform operations such as channel quality feedback, handover, etc. The device 600 goes into a very low power state and it performs paging where again it periodically wakes up to listen to the network and then powers down again. The device 600 may not receive data in this state, in order to receive data, it must transition back to RRC_Connected state.

[0114] An additional power saving mode may allow a device to be unavailable to the network for periods longer than a paging interval (ranging from seconds to a few hours). During this time, the device is totally unreachable to the network and may power down completely. Any data sent during this time incurs a large delay and it is assumed the delay is acceptable.

[0115] Processors of the application circuitry 602 and processors of the baseband circuitry 604 may be used to execute elements of one or more instances of a protocol stack. For example, processors of the baseband circuitry 604, alone or in combination, may be used to execute Layer 3, Layer 2, or Layer 1 functionality, while processors of the application circuitry 602 may utilize data (e.g., packet data) received from these layers and further execute Layer 4 functionality (e.g., transmission communication protocol (TCP) and user datagram protocol (UDP) layers). As referred to herein, Layer 3 may comprise a radio resource control (RRC) layer, described in further detail below. As referred to herein, Layer 2 may comprise a medium access control (MAC) layer, a radio link control (RLC) layer, and a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, described in further detail below. As referred to herein, Layer 1 may comprise a physical (PHY) layer of a UE/RAN node, described in further detail below.

[0116] FIG. 7 illustrates example interfaces of baseband circuitry in accordance with some embodiments. As discussed above, the baseband circuitry 604 of FIG. 6 may comprise processors 604A-604E and a memory 604G utilized by said processors. Each of the processors 604A-604E may include a memory interface, 704A-704E, respectively, to send/receive data to/from the memory 604G.

[0117] The baseband circuitry 604 may further include one or more interfaces to communicatively couple to other circuitries/devices, such as a memory interface 712 (e.g., an interface to send/receive data to/from memory external to the baseband circuitry 604), an application circuitry interface 714 (e.g., an interface to send/receive data to/from the application circuitry 602 of FIG. 6), an RF circuitry interface 716 (e.g., an interface to send/receive data to/from RF circuitry 606 of FIG. 6), a wireless hardware connectivity interface 718 (e.g., an interface to send/receive data to/from Near Field Communication (NFC) components, Bluetooth® components (e.g., Bluetooth® Low Energy), Wi-Fi® components, and other communication components), and a power management interface 720 (e.g., an interface to send/receive power or control signals to/from the PMC 612.

[0118] FIG. 8 is an illustration of a control plane protocol stack in accordance with some embodiments. In this embodiment, a control plane 800 is shown as a communications protocol stack between the UE 501 (or alternatively, the UE 502), the RAN node 511 (or alternatively, the RAN node 512), and the MME 521.

[0119] The PHY layer 801 may transmit or receive information used by the MAC layer 802 over one or more air interfaces. The PHY layer 801 may further perform link adaptation or adaptive modulation and coding (AMC), power control, cell search (e.g., for initial synchronization and handover purposes), and other measurements used by higher layers, such as the RRC layer 805. The PHY layer 801 may still further perform error detection on the transport channels, forward error correction (FEC) coding/decoding of the transport channels, modulation/demodulation of physical channels, interleaving, rate matching, mapping onto physical channels, and Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) antenna processing.

[0120] The MAC layer 802 may perform mapping between logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing of MAC service data units (SDUs) from one or more logical channels onto transport blocks (TB) to be delivered to PHY via transport channels, de-multiplexing MAC SDUs to one or more logical channels from transport blocks (TB) delivered from the PHY via transport channels, multiplexing MAC SDUs onto TBs, scheduling information reporting, error correction through hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ), and logical channel prioritization.

[0121] The RLC layer 803 may operate in a plurality of modes of operation, including: Transparent Mode (TM), Unacknowledged Mode (UM), and Acknowledged Mode (AM). The RLC layer 803 may execute transfer of upper layer protocol data units (PDUs), error correction through automatic repeat request (ARQ) for AM data transfers, and concatenation, segmentation and reassembly of RLC SDUs for UM and AM data transfers. The RLC layer 803 may also execute re-segmentation of RLC data PDUs for AM data transfers, reorder RLC data PDUs for UM and AM data transfers, detect duplicate data for UM and AM data transfers, discard RLC SDUs for UM and AM data transfers, detect protocol errors for AM data transfers, and perform RLC re-establishment.

[0122] The PDCP layer 804 may execute header compression and decompression of IP data, maintain PDCP Sequence Numbers (SNs), perform in-sequence delivery of upper layer PDUs at re-establishment of lower layers, eliminate duplicates of lower layer SDUs at re-establishment of lower layers for radio bearers mapped on RLC AM, cipher and decipher control plane data, perform integrity protection and integrity verification of control plane data, control timer-based discard of data, and perform security operations (e.g., ciphering, deciphering, integrity protection, integrity verification, etc.).

[0123] The main services and functions of the RRC layer 805 may include broadcast of system information (e.g., included in Master Information Blocks (MIBs) or System Information Blocks (SIBs) related to the non-access stratum (NAS)), broadcast of system information related to the access stratum (AS), paging, establishment, maintenance and release of an RRC connection between the UE and E-UTRAN (e.g., RRC connection paging, RRC connection establishment, RRC connection modification, and RRC connection release), establishment, configuration, maintenance and release of point to point Radio Bearers, security functions including key management, inter radio access technology (RAT) mobility, and measurement configuration for UE measurement reporting. Said MIBs and SIBs may comprise one or more information elements (IEs), which may each comprise individual data fields or data structures.

[0124] The UE 501 and the RAN node 511 may utilize a Uu interface (e.g., an LTE-Uu interface) to exchange control plane data via a protocol stack comprising the PHY layer 801, the MAC layer 802, the RLC layer 803, the PDCP layer 804, and the RRC layer 805.

[0125] The non-access stratum (NAS) protocols 806 form the highest stratum of the control plane between the UE 501 and the MME 521. The NAS protocols 806 support the mobility of the UE 501 and the session management procedures to establish and maintain IP connectivity between the UE 501 and the P-GW 523.

[0126] The SI Application Protocol (SI-AP) layer 815 may support the functions of the SI interface and comprise Elementary Procedures (EPs). An EP is a unit of interaction between the RAN node 511 and the CN 520. The SI-AP layer services may comprise two groups: UE-associated services and non-DE-associated services. These services perform functions including, but not limited to: E-UTRAN Radio Access Bearer (E-RAB) management, UE capability indication, mobility, NAS signaling transport, RAN Information Management (RIM), and configuration transfer.

[0127] The Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP) layer (alternatively referred to as the SCTP/IP layer) 814 may ensure reliable delivery of signaling messages between the RAN node 511 and the MME 521 based, in part, on the IP protocol, supported by the IP layer 813. The L2 layer 812 and the LI layer 811 may refer to communication links (e.g., wired or wireless) used by the RAN node and the MME to exchange information.

[0128] The RAN node 511 and the MME 521 may utilize an SI-MME interface to exchange control plane data via a protocol stack comprising the LI layer 811, the L2 layer 812, the IP layer 813, the SCTP layer 814, and the SI-AP layer 815.

[0129] FIG. 9 is an illustration of a user plane protocol stack in accordance with some embodiments. In this embodiment, a user plane 900 is shown as a communications protocol stack between the UE 501 (or alternatively, the UE 502), the RAN node 511 (or alternatively, the RAN node 512), the S-GW 522, and the P-GW 523. The user plane 900 may utilize at least some of the same protocol layers as the control plane 800. For example, the UE 501 and the RAN node 511 may utilize a Uu interface (e.g., an LTE-Uu interface) to exchange user plane data via a protocol stack comprising the PHY layer 801, the MAC layer 802, the RLC layer 803, the PDCP layer 804.

[0130] The General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) Tunneling Protocol for the user plane (GTP-U) layer 904 may be used for carrying user data within the GPRS core network and between the radio access network and the core network. The user data transported can be packets in any of IPV4, IPv6, or PPP formats, for example. The UDP and IP security (UDP/IP) layer 913 may provide checksums for data integrity, port numbers for addressing different functions at the source and destination, and encryption and authentication on the selected data flows. The RAN node 511 and the S-GW 522 may utilize an S1-U interface to exchange user plane data via a protocol stack comprising the LI layer 811, the L2 layer 812, the UDP/IP layer 913, and the GTP-U layer 904. The S-GW 522 and the P-GW 523 may utilize an S5/S8a interface to exchange user plane data via a protocol stack comprising the LI layer 811, the L2 layer 812, the UDP/IP layer 913, and the GTP-U layer 904. As discussed above with respect to FIG. 8, NAS protocols support the mobility of the UE 501 and the session management procedures to establish and maintain IP connectivity between the UE 501 and the P-GW 523.

[0131] FIG. 10 illustrates components of a core network in accordance with some embodiments. The components of the CN 520 may be implemented in one physical node or separate physical nodes including components to read and execute instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium). In some embodiments, Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) is utilized to virtualize any or all of the above described network node functions via executable instructions stored in one or more computer readable storage mediums (described in further detail below). A logical instantiation of the CN 520 may be referred to as a network slice 1001. A logical instantiation of a portion of the CN 520 may be referred to as a network sub-slice I 002 (e.g., the network sub-slice I 002 is shown to include the PGW 523 and the PCRF 526).

[0132] NFV architectures and infrastructures may be used to virtualize one or more network functions, alternatively performed by proprietary hardware, onto physical resources comprising a combination of industry-standard server hardware, storage hardware, or switches. In other words, NFV systems can be used to execute virtual or reconfigurable implementations of one or more EPC components/functions.

[0133] FIG. 11 is a block diagram illustrating components, according to some example embodiments, of a system 1100 to support NFV. The system 1100 is illustrated as including a virtualized infrastructure manager (VIM) 1102, a network function virtualization infrastructure (NFVI) 1104, a VNF manager (VNFM) 1106, virtualized network functions (VNFs) 1108, an element manager (EM) 1110, an NFV Orchestrator (NFVO) 1112, and a network manager (NM) 1114.

[0134] The VIM 1102 manages the resources of the NFVI 1104. The NFVI 1104 can include physical or virtual resources and applications (including hypervisors) used to execute the system 1100. The VIM 1102 may manage the life cycle of virtual resources with the NFVI 1104 (e.g., creation, maintenance, and tear down of virtual machines (VMs) associated with one or more physical resources), track VM instances, track performance, fault and security of VM instances and associated physical resources, and expose VM instances and associated physical resources to other management systems.

[0135] The VNFM 1106 may manage the VNFs 1108. The VNFs 1108 may be used to execute EPC components/functions. The VNFM 1106 may manage the life cycle of the VNFs 1108 and track performance, fault and security of the virtual aspects of VNFs 1108. The EM 1110 may track the performance, fault and security of the functional aspects of VNFs 1108. The tracking data from the VNFM 1106 and the EM 1110 may comprise, for example, performance measurement (PM) data used by the VIM 1102 or the NFVI 1104. Both the VNFM 1106 and the EM 1110 can scale up/down the quantity of VNFs of the system 1100.

[0136] The NFVO 1112 may coordinate, authorize, release and engage resources of the NFVI 1104 in order to provide the requested service (e.g., to execute an EPC function, component, or slice). The NM 1114 may provide a package of end-user functions with the responsibility for the management of a network, which may include network elements with VNFs, non-virtualized network functions, or both (management of the VNFs may occur via the EM 1110).

[0137] FIG. 12 is a block diagram illustrating components, according to some example embodiments, able to read instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium) and perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein. Specifically, FIG. 12 shows a diagrammatic representation of hardware resources 1200 including one or more processors (or processor cores) 1210, one or more memory/storage devices 1220, and one or more communication resources 1230, each of which may be communicatively coupled via a bus 1240. For embodiments where node virtualization (e.g., NFV) is utilized, a hypervisor 1202 may be executed to provide an execution environment for one or more network slices/sub-slices to utilize the hardware resources 1200.

[0138] The processors 1210 (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processor, a complex instruction set computing (CISC) processor, a graphics processing unit (GPU), a digital signal processor (DSP) such as a baseband processor, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a radio-frequency integrated circuit (RFIC), another processor, or any suitable combination thereof) may include, for example, a processor 1212 and a processor 1214.

[0139] The memory/storage devices 1220 may include main memory, disk storage, or any suitable combination thereof. The memory/storage devices 1220 may include, but are not limited to, any type of volatile or non-volatile memory such as dynamic random access memory (DRAM), static random-access memory (SRAM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), Flash memory, solid-state storage, etc.

[0140] The communication resources 1230 may include interconnection or network interface components or other suitable devices to communicate with one or more peripheral devices 1204 or one or more databases 1206 via a network 1208. For example, the communication resources 1230 may include wired communication components (e.g., for coupling via a Universal Serial Bus (USB)), cellular communication components, NFC components, Bluetooth® components (e.g., Bluetooth® Low Energy), Wi-Fi® components, and other communication components.

[0141] Instructions 1250 may comprise software, a program, an application, an applet, an app, or other executable code for causing at least any of the processors 1210 to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein. The instructions 1250 may reside, completely or partially, within at least one of the processors 1210 (e.g., within the processor's cache memory), the memory/storage devices 1220, or any suitable combination thereof. Furthermore, any portion of the instructions 1250 may be transferred to the hardware resources 1200 from any combination of the peripheral devices 1204 or the databases 1206. Accordingly, the memory of processors 1210, the memory/storage devices 1220, the peripheral devices 1204, and the databases 1206 are examples of computer-readable and machine-readable media.

[0142] In various embodiments, the devices/components of FIGS. 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and particularly the baseband circuitry of FIG. 7, may be used for: retrieving panel index information from memory, the panel index information to indicate an antenna port group that a user equipment (UE) is to use for a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) signal; generating a message that includes the panel index information; and encoding the message for transmission to the UE. The devices/components of FIGS. 5-12 may also be used to practice, in whole or in part, any of the operation flow/algorithmic structures depicted in FIGS. 1-3.

[0143] One example of an operation flow/algorithmic structure is depicted in FIG. 1, which may be performed by a next-generation NodeB (gNB) in accordance with some embodiments. In this example, operation flow/algorithmic structure 100 may include, at 105, retrieving panel index information from memory, the panel index information to indicate an antenna port group that a user equipment (UE) is to use for a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) signal or a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH). Operation flow/algorithmic structure 100 may further include, at 110, generating a message that includes the panel index information. Operation flow/algorithmic structure 100 may further include, at 115, encoding the message for transmission to the UE.

[0144] Another example of an operation flow/algorithmic structure is depicted in FIG. 2, which may be performed by UE in accordance with some embodiments. In this example, operation flow/algorithmic structure 200 may include, at 205, receiving a configuration message that includes panel index information to indicate an antenna port group of the UE for transmitting a message, wherein the message is a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) message or a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) message. Operation flow/algorithmic structure 200 may further include, at 210, encoding the PUCCH message for transmission in accordance with the panel index information.

[0145] Another example of an operation flow/algorithmic structure is depicted in FIG. 3, which may be performed by gNB in accordance with some embodiments. In this example, operation flow/algorithmic structure 300 may include, at 305, generating a configuration message that includes panel index information indicating an antenna port group for a user equipment (UE) for transmitting via physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) or physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH). Operation flow/algorithmic structure 300 may further include, at 310, encoding the configuration message for transmission to the UE.

[0146] Some non-limiting examples are provided below.

[0147] Example 1 includes an apparatus comprising: memory to store panel index information to indicate an antenna port group that a user equipment (UE) is to use for a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) signal or a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH); and processing circuitry, coupled with the memory, to: retrieve the panel index information from the memory; generate a message that includes the panel index information; and encode the message for transmission to the UE.

[0148] Example 2 includes the apparatus of example 1 and/or some other examples herein, wherein the processing circuitry is further to receive, from the UE, the PUCCH signal or the PUSCH signal in accordance with the panel index information.

[0149] Example 3 includes the apparatus of example 1 and/or some other examples herein, wherein the message is to be transmitted via radio resource control (RRC) signaling or medium access layer (MAC) Control Element (CE) signaling.

[0150] Example 4 includes the apparatus of example 1 and/or some other examples herein, wherein the processing circuitry is to derive the panel index from a sounding reference signal (SRS) resource.

[0151] Example 5 includes the apparatus of example 1 and/or some other examples herein, wherein the panel index information is to indicate a maximum number of beams that can be simultaneously transmitted by the UE.

[0152] Example 6 includes the apparatus of example 1 and/or some other examples herein, wherein the panel index information is to indicate a sounding reference signal (SRS) resource, a synchronization signal block (SSB) resource, or a channel state information-reference signal (CSI-RS) resource.

[0153] Example 7 includes the apparatus of example 1 and/or some other examples herein, wherein the panel index information is to indicate a respective power control parameter for each respective panel.

[0154] Example 8 includes one or more non-transitory, computer-readable media storing instructions, that, when executed by one or more processors, cause a user equipment (UE) to: receive a configuration message that includes panel index information to indicate an antenna port group of the UE for transmitting a message, wherein the message is a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) message or a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) message; and encode the message for transmission in accordance with the panel index information.

[0155] Example 9 includes the one or more non-transitory, computer-readable media of example 8 and/or some other examples herein, wherein the instructions are further to cause the UE to: transmit an indication of a first uplink control information (UCI) type and a second UCI type via PUCCH using a first panel; and transmit an indication of the second UCI type via PUCCH using a second panel.

[0156] Example 10 includes the one or more non-transitory, computer-readable media of example 9 and/or some other examples herein, wherein the first UCI type is a hybrid automatic request-acknowledge (HARQ-ACK), and the second UCI type is a channel state information (CSI) report or scheduling request (SR).

[0157] Example 11 includes the one or more non-transitory, computer-readable media of example 8 and/or some other examples herein, wherein the configuration message is received via radio resource control (RRC) signaling or medium access layer (MAC) Control Element (CE) signaling.

[0158] Example 12 includes the one or more non-transitory, computer-readable media of example 8 and/or some other examples herein, wherein the panel index information is derived from a sounding reference signal (SRS) resource.

[0159] Example 13 includes the one or more non-transitory, computer-readable media of example 8 and/or some other examples herein, wherein the panel index information is to indicate a maximum number of beams that can be simultaneously transmitted by the UE.

[0160] Example 14 includes the one or more non-transitory, computer-readable media of example 8 and/or some other examples herein, wherein the panel index information is to indicate a sounding reference signal (SRS) resource, a synchronization signal block (SSB) resource, or a channel state information-reference signal (CSI-RS) resource.

[0161] Example 15 includes the one or more non-transitory, computer-readable media of example 8 and/or some other examples herein, wherein the panel index information is to indicate a respective power control parameter for each respective panel.

[0162] Example 16 includes one or more non-transitory, computer-readable media storing instructions, that, when executed by one or more processors, cause a next-generation NodeB (gNB) to: generate a configuration message that includes panel index information indicating an antenna port group for a user equipment (UE) for transmitting via physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) or physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH); and encode the configuration message for transmission to a user equipment (UE).

[0163] Example 17 includes the one or more non-transitory, computer-readable media of example 16 and/or some other examples herein, wherein the instructions are further to cause the gNB to receive, from the UE, a PUCCH signal or a PUSCH signal in accordance with the panel index information.

[0164] Example 18 includes the one or more non-transitory, computer-readable media of example 16, wherein the message is to be transmitted via radio resource control (RRC) signaling or medium access layer (MAC) Control Element (CE) signaling.

[0165] Example 19 includes the one or more non-transitory, computer-readable media of example 16 and/or some other examples herein, wherein the panel index information is to indicate a maximum number of beams that can be simultaneously transmitted by the UE.

[0166] Example 20 includes the one or more non-transitory, computer-readable media of example 16 and/or some other examples herein, wherein the panel index information is to indicate a sounding reference signal (SRS) resource, a synchronization signal block (SSB) resource, or a channel state information-reference signal (CSI-RS) resource.

[0167] Example 21 may include an apparatus comprising means to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of examples 1-20, or any other method or process described herein.

[0168] Example 22 may include one or more non-transitory computer-readable media comprising instructions to cause an electronic device, upon execution of the instructions by one or more processors of the electronic device, to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of examples 1-20, or any other method or process described herein.

[0169] Example 23 may include an apparatus comprising logic, modules, and/or circuitry to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of examples 1-20, or any other method or process described herein.

[0170] Example 24 may include a method, technique, or process as described in or related to any of examples 1-20, or portions or parts thereof.

[0171] Example 25 may include an apparatus comprising: one or more processors and one or more computer-readable media comprising instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the method, techniques, or process as described in or related to any of examples 1-20, or portions thereof.

[0172] Example 26 may include a method of communicating in a wireless network as shown and described herein.

[0173] Example 27 may include a system for providing wireless communication as shown and described herein.

[0174] Example 28 may include a device for providing wireless communication as shown and described herein.

[0175] The description herein of illustrated implementations, including what is described in the Abstract, is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the present disclosure to the precise forms disclosed. While specific implementations and examples are described herein for illustrative purposes, a variety of alternate or equivalent embodiments or implementations calculated to achieve the same purposes may be made in light of the above detailed description, without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.